Picking out new colours for your home can be exciting, but there are a few things you need to do first to make sure your efforts look great. Before getting in to deep, read these tips to ensure you have a flawless application.
No Prep
Doing a little prep work can save you a lot of headache and cleanup in the end. To avoid splatters and drips, cover your furniture and floors with drop cloths. Wrap door knobs with plastic or remove them, tape around the edges of the trim and remove the switch and outlet covers.
Not Using Painter’s Tape
Taping ensures that you will have a polished finish and clean edges. Make sure that you tightly tape around windows and baseboards to limit bleeding. Peel the tape off before the paint is completely dry because if you wait, the dried paint might peel off with it. Make sure to use a medium quality of tape, cheap tape doesn’t come off clean and wastes more time than it saves for a minor difference. The best kind of tape is frog tape, because it has a special additive that significantly cuts down on paint bleed and leaves razor sharp lines.
Not Cleaning the Walls
You can prevent ripples and dust from forming on drying paint by cleaning the walls before you start. Most people still think you need to use TSP to wash your walls, but in fact sanding the walls before you paint is the best way to ensure that you have a smooth and clean surface. Make sure to wipe the walls with a dry cloth to remove any excess dust.
Not Buying Enough Paint
When you have finished painting the third wall, and you are nearing the end, you turn around and find that you don’t have enough! Take measurements and estimate correctly before you first start. A gallon of paint usually covers about 350-400 square feet one coat, and you should always plan for two coats to ensure a uniform look (sometimes you can get away with one coat, but if you miss a sliver with your roller, you will have to do a second coat to hide it properly). Account for more in your estimate for future touch ups as well, saving a little left over paint in a quart can is a great way to keep it from drying out. It is also ideal to get all of your paint on your first trip because the colour can vary slightly, called batch variation, whereby a color in a pail and a color in a one gallon can may be slightly different, but still noticable. Check your local paint stores in Edmonton.
Cutting and rolling with different cans
This mistake is an interesting one, because of manufacturing variables, gallon cans and 5 gallon pails are fairly close in composition, and when tinted to the same color are incredibly close, but if you cut with a gallon can and roll from a pail, you may notice a difference. Whatever paint you use to cut a wall in, you must roll with as well. If you find your getting short on paint, get another can and “box it” (mix together) with the previous can to ensure an even blend and the right color. This also applies to mixing paints from other companies tinted to the “same color”, cutting with one brand and rolling with a different one is a sure way to be frustrated when it dries.
Restricting air flow
If you are painting during the summer or winter, its key to ensure proper air flow either by having a fan going or opening windows. This ensures that the paint will cure properly as it dries, not doing this tends to make the coating a little sticky as it never hardened properly.
Ignoring the Weather
If you are doing an exterior paint project, make sure you check the humidity levels before getting started. High humidity can make water-based paints take longer to dry. If it’s going to be especially humid, consider waiting until levels drop, and if your painting or staining wood like a fence or deck, no more than 10% moisture in the wood should be allowed, otherwise the water will try and find a weak point to escape and create bubbles as it evaporates, lifting the coating off the surface.
Using the Wrong Paint
If you are painting over an existing job, you need to know what you are working with first. Applying latex paint over an oil-based formula will cause it to crack or peel. If that is the case, you will need to first sand down the oil-based formula before applying a primer to it to ensure the water based paint has something it will stick to.
Skipping Primer
The primer provides a smooth surface for the paint to adhere to, creating a beautiful finish. It will also help bring out the exact colour you have selected. Paint and Primer will stick to surfaces as if they had more prep done, but if you are painting over fresh drywall, patches, or doing a major color change, primer can ensure you use less paint overall.
Dunking Your Brush
Do not dip your paintbrush completely into the can. Only dunk it in halfway. Getting paint underneath the metal portion of the brush can cause the bristles to fall out, meaning you will have to pick them off the wall and go back over those areas to smooth them out.
Not Waiting Long Enough
If you paint your second coat on too quickly, it could result in visible brush strokes or peeling paint, ruining all of your hard work. Follow the instructions on your paint can concerning drying times between coats. If you are unsure of drying times, check the Technical Data Sheets online, instructions on the can, or call the store. Waiting for that recoat time ensure that’s the first coat starts curing properly, meaning that your second coat will add further protection and durability.
To ensure a flawless finish for your paint job that is completed quickly, or just making sure you know what your getting into, contact Edmonton paint stores at our website benjaminmooreedmonton.ca to find a store near you.
